Broad Agreement on Military Future

Published måndag 15 januari 2007 kl 12.18

Mikael Odenberg and Ulrica Messing at Sälen

The Swedish government and the opposition seem to be in agreement about the future of the Swedish military.

At the annual conference on defence in the northern Swedish ski resort of Sälen, Defence Minister Mikael Odenberg outlined the need for a more effective and slimmed down military, focused on peacekeeping missions abroad. The opposition Social Democrats’ Ulrica Messing, who chairs parliament’s defence committee, said afterwards that with the exception of the comments about NATO, she could have given the same speech.

Odenberg criticised the previous Social Democratic government for what he said was its reluctance to get close to NATO. He also criticised military procurement policies, saying money has been spent on systems that were not adequate for either territorial defence or international missions.